Post Baby Weight Loss: How to tighten loose Skin after Pregnancy

You’ve just had a baby. You thought your tummy would be back to normal by your 6-week postpartum checkup, but instead you have loose skin and belly flab. How do you get your tummy back in shape and get rid of the loose skin where you tummy used to be? Follow our tips to help you tighten up your tummy.
Lose weight slowly.
If you want to make your belly firmer, you will need to lose body fat. You may be anxious to rid yourself of the extra baby weight, but make sure you are doing it in a healthy way. Losing weight quickly will only add to the problem of loose skin. If you lose weight quickly you will lose both fat and muscle. Muscle helps your stomach to keep it’s shape. Your skin needs time to adjust to it’s new shape when you lose weight. If you loose it too quickly, you may just end up with even more loose skin. Allow your skin time to regain it’s elasticity. Aim for losing around 1-2 lbs per week.
Cardio
You may have heard that you can’t spot reduce, or burn fat from just one area of your body. When you burn fat, you burn it all over. If you want to get your tummy back in shape, doing cardiovascular exercise is the way to do it. Aim for doing some type of cardio for at least 20 minutes, 3 to 5 days a week.
Protein
If you want to build muscle, protein is the thing to eat. Not only is it good for muscle growth, but it also contains important nutrients that help your skin, such as collagen. How much protein you need depends on your weight as well as how much physical activity and strength training you do. Most women need around 50 grams of protein a day. If you are more active, you may need more.
Lotion and massage
Use a lotion on your skin that contains collagen, as well as vitmins E, A, C, and K to help firm up loose skin. When you apply the lotion massage it in. Massaging will improve blood flow to the area which helps your skin to appear firmer. Try massaging lotion to any loose skin once or twice a day.
Strength train
What does strength training have to do with loose skin? Strength training will help improve your over all muscle tone and will give your more lean muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Morever, strength training will improve your body composition (the percentage of lean muscle to body fat). Improving your body composition, will reduce fat not just along your waist, but all over your body.
Exfoliate
Want an easy way to tighten loose skin? Try exfoliating. Get an exfoliating scrub and scrub your belly with it each time you get in the shower. Exfoliating helps to improve circulation and regenerate new, healthier, more elasatic skin. Give it a try!
Water
There are so many good reasons to drink water. Water will help hydrate your skin, making it more elastic. It will help your body to burn calories more effectively. On top of that, it will help reduce water retention in your belly area, which may make the appearance of loose skin less noticable. If you haven’t been drinking your H20, here’s a good reason to start.
Planks
Many women try to get their tummy back in shape by doing crunches. Crunches are fine, but they may not be enough to get that loose skin to tighten up. Planks are an isometric exercise. When you do them, you suck in your tummy and hold it tight. This process of sucking in and tightening will do wonders for your belly. Start by doing 2 or 3 planks and holding them for 15 seconds. Work up to doing 30 second and 1 minute planks. Here’s how to do a plank.